


Checkmate

by FallenGabriella



Category: Carmen Sandiego - Fandom, Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego?
Genre: F/M, I'm Going to Hell, Older Man/Younger Woman, what is this
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-19
Updated: 2019-01-19
Packaged: 2019-10-12 21:51:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,521
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17475611
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FallenGabriella/pseuds/FallenGabriella
Summary: It's a game they play.(A series of 100ish word snippets that may get longer in later chapters).





	Checkmate

  1. _Pawn_



He played chess. She expected Go, Chinese Checkers, or… You know, hacking apart student’s failed test papers for target practice as they’re shot out of a canon above the track field. To be fair, she found the game extremely boring. There were only so many moves one could pull, so many combinations and secrets you could use that had already been used a million times over. At least the other two boasted some variety, a challenge, an unforeseen obstacle. But no, he had to stick with the mundane. Something rigid and altogether as unflinching as his face.

He glared at her when she said so to his face.

  1. _Poker_



“No.” Carmen frowned.

“Worried I’ll beat you?” It was Shadowsan’s turn to frown. Not that he ever did anything but.

“No.” He grumbled, gruff and unrelenting as a stone in the midst of a river, and yet he moved around her as if she was one.

“What? You not know how to play?” Carmen teased, flicking her fingers over the fifty-two cards sitting snug in the crook of her palm. Shadowsan rolled his eyes.

“No.” She sighed, crooking her lips to blow a long, crimson bang out of her face.

Even the toughest river stone could be worn down…

  1. _Red_



She thought it was a fluke.

It wasn’t.

She turned her head, just enough to see a few of her crimson locks curled around his calloused fingers. They caught and twisted on his roughened skin, parting here, and stroking like silk across his knuckles. Shadowsan’s brow was furrowed, eyes narrowed on the strands.

“Uhm…” He blinked, her awkward shuffling of papers from one arm to the other tearing him from his stupor. He said nothing. Carmen’s throat felt thick, like she’d just swallowed down honey sweet tea. She could feel the grinds sticking to her tongue as he disappeared into the shadows.

  1. _Marks_



Okay, so, maybe she was staring… That didn’t mean –

“Black Sheep.” _Busted_.

“It’s Carmen now, actually.”

“Mm.” Shadowsan didn’t even look at her, his head remained bowed as he continued with his calligraphy. She chanced a glance down, taking in the mesmerizing twist of ink upon the parchment, the subtle shift of the brush changing direction in his scarred hand.

She’d never noticed them before. Ivory lines crisscrossed along the backs of his knuckles, some of them short and fat, and another long and thin curving up to his wrist.

  1. _Wool_



Birthdays don’t exist at VILE Academy. Whether because they were seen as a weird weakness, irrelevant or childish, or maybe its because they could be used as a way to trace an individual’s identity she’d never known. As an orphan, it was just another thing to be deprived of. Any present she’d ever received was just another tool for her eventual trade: a trunk full of knives, new climbing equipment, or a new tutor, it didn’t matter.

She’d never received a single one that had lasted…

But giving? She could do giving.

A card with an imprint of her lips in a rouge that matched her coat. And a curl of her crimson hair.

  1. _Midsummer_



“You sigh through your nose a lot.”

Shadowsan’s brow furrowed with irritation, tea cup still poised at his lips. He slowly lowered it, glaring at her for a solid ten seconds.

“Does that bother you?” His brow was twitching. Never a good sign. It usually meant he was going to do that sneaky ninja thing where he disappeared in the blink of an eye. It was really useful for escaping social situations, she’d give him that, but it could be annoying when just trying to talk to the man.

“Nope, just an observation.”

  1. _Sheepish_



_Two years is long enough to play coy_ , _right_? Was that what she was playing? She wasn’t even sure herself anymore. It didn’t look like either of them knew what was going on. From escaping the clutches of VILE, to being on the run for three years, and living together for the latter seven-hundred-twenty days… Okay, so, not exactly two years, but close enough.

Carmen’s fingers reached without her conscious, unable to tangle as he so easily could with her, but she could scratch at his scalp with her dull nails.

  1. _Hesitation_



She didn’t want it to be awkward. Too bad she wasn’t so great at the whole ‘seduction’ thing. What? It wasn’t her fault! The one course she didn’t take back at VILE Academy, though she heard that Tigress had aced it… Maybe she should ask her for pointers the next time she saw her? Although, that was if she didn’t feel like clawing her eyes out.

Also, she felt like Shadowsan wouldn’t appreciate being on the receiving end of a part of the old curriculum. No, she chose a blunt approach…

  1. _Spiderman_



His eyes were wide, and the corner of his mouth was twitching. His calligraphy was ruined by the jagged line that marked the page and the drip marks all over the other half of it. The corner of Carmen’s still tingling lips quirked.

“I saw it in a movie once?” Her excuse was shaky and harsh even to her ears. Crimson waves spiraled into her vision, escaping the cage of her ear to stroke the side of his face and the backs of her hands. She was still holding his head, cradling it as he peered up at her with a straining neck.

He blinked, dropping his brush, and reached for her.

  1. _Bishop_



He always played black. She always played white. It was part of the ‘natural order’ of their home. Yes, theirs, as odd as that was to think now. A rule like any other: he wasn’t allowed to do laundry, lest he end up with a crimson undershirt as adverse to his usual white; she was forbidden from preparing or cooking any food, otherwise they’d end up with another fire; and…

No more secrets. No more running off to parts unknown without the other being able to find them, no taking secret jobs, and no fighting VILE agents on their own.

Back-to-back, reaching places the other couldn’t, just like the two pieces facing each other on the board…

  1. _Home_



It wasn’t a doorstep.  It wasn’t underneath a lamppost. It wasn’t even near a town.

It was a long strip of road with nothing stretching forever into the distance. She couldn’t see hills or mountains, no power lines or signs. Just sparse shrubs that wouldn’t be bested by the drought, ugly and gnarled as they splintered towards the sky and within the cracks in the pavement. It was night and the cicadas droned in tune with the ringing of her phone. She ignored it.

“Thanks.”

Carmen sank into the warm arms that wrapped around her, resting her weight against the firm chest behind her. _For everything_.

  1. _Balance_



She’d fallen plenty of times. A common occurrence when one spent their time leaping from rooftops and careening through the air on a chase. But she’d always had her grapple, or her glider. Now she was freefalling with nothing… Her eyes burned. Her ears strained over the thunder in her ears, from the air rushing around her, to the burning drum in her chest and throat.

Carmen jolted to a stop, gasping, hissing in shock and agony. Shadowsan shoved her shoulder back into place and ferried her from VILE’s grasp.

  1. _Unfair_



“Come here.” Carmen whined, nails gouging into the meat of his shoulders. Shadowsan huffed, his breath ghosting across the swollen lips between her thighs. She choked on a gasp. She couldn’t tell if he was amused or exasperated. He rose up, mask still in place despite the glistening wetness on his lips. Carmen glared, rocking her hips up into his, hard and desperate and wanting.

His mouth twitched into a snarl and she grinned as he pinned her wrists among the messy waves of her hair. He rocked into her in one long, hard thrust that had her body seizing up, and her scream was stolen by his tongue.

He tasted like her and tea.

  1. _Desert_



He was staring at her. Carmen held the fruit with her teeth, tongue teasing along the delicate skin as she ferried the tray to the coffee table. A plate of cakes and two bowls: one full of perfectly chopped strawberries and sugar, the other with cream and a spoon sticking out.

Carmen reached, swiping a finger through the cloudy fluff, and dotted it to his nose. Shadowsan blinked, scowling at her with a sigh through his nose.

He grabbed her by the front of the kimono she had stolen from his dresser, and dragged her mouth to his.

  1. _Attire_



“You look good in a suit.”

“Hm.” Black and white melded at his throat, a straight tie melding into the waistcoat and jacket he wore. Carmen eyed the three-piece ensemble, the traditional feel of it solidified by Shadowsan’s stoic demeanor. She slid in next to him, linking her arm with his. He raised a brow, mouth thinning.

“And how do you expect to watch the eastern corridor?” The implied: “from my arm”, made her smirk.

“Wouldn’t you like to know?”


End file.
